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Copper thieves target vacant Manchester buildings

Large appliances and copper have been stolen from several vacant Manchester buildings over the past two weeks, police said.

Manchester police said burglars have been breaking into the buildings, tearing apart walls and stealing everything from refrigerators to copper pipes.

"They stole the appliances out of this kitchen here," said Craig Saunders of Affordable Property Management. "They gutted all the piping out of this wall up in here."

Saunders said several of his vacant buildings in the Concord Street area had been targeted. He said he had been doing work on them to get them ready to be rented again.

"They were all redone, everything," he said. "This only happened maybe two days ago."

Saunders said the copper piping and wires could cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace. Police said copper is an attractive target for thieves.

"Copper has a relatively high market value, and they are getting some good money for it," said Lt. Maureen Tessier.

Police said there has been an uptick in such crimes over the past few weeks. While police keep track of vacant buildings and have officers on patrol keep an eye on them, determined thieves still manage to get in.

Investigators said they have a good relationship with scrapyards and are often notified when something suspicious comes in, but they need the community's help, as well.

"If they see anything unusual in these buildings, don't assume it's a contractor or someone doing maintenance," Tessier said. "If they see someone at the building and think it's unusual, give us a call."

Manchester police are warning property owners to secure their buildings as best they can.

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